tcaf abroad

TheToronto Comic Arts Festival (Toronto, Canada) andEntreviñetas Festival (Bogotá and Medellín, Colombia), in alliance with the Ministry of Culture of Colombia, are proud to announce the launch of the Blind Dateproject (Cita a ciegas).

The Toronto Comic Arts Festival exists to promote Canadian Comics and Culture at home and abroad year-round. This year TCAF will be traveling with a dozen cartoonists from Canada, as well as other friends and associates, to put on our biggest displays in Japan yet. Event information, including WHICH artists are participating at WHICH events, and Artist bios are below. TCAF in Tokyo header by Kagan McLeod.

Quebec-based art collective En Masse returns to Tokyo with a complete gallery takeover and installation of art! Led by En Masse’s Rupert Bottenberg and Kim Hoang, this installation will feature large-format collaborative artworks deriving from comics, illustration, and painting traditions. Participating artists include the complete range of visual artists from TCAF’s Tokyo trip, as well as Tokyo-based and Japan-based artists working in a variety of disciplines.

Installation takes places on November 24th from 1pm-6pm, and viewing may be possible at this time. Show is fully open to the public from November 25th to December 10th.

Solo exhibition of Toronto-based comics creator Mike Parsons as he explores Japan’s rich ‘Eroguro’ artistic tradition. Show runs Tuesday to Saturday, with an opening reception on Tuesday the 21st. For more info check out the Facebook event!

Kaigai Manga Festa is Tokyo’s first comics event celebrating worldwide comics! Creating relationships between Japanese and International comics creators, Kaigai Manga Festa (or Tokyo International Comic Festival) features more than 40 artists from more than a dozen countries around the world.

Comic Art Tokyo is a show modeled somewhat after TCAF, and so we’re honoured and thrilled to be participating. Focusing on artcomix, indy and underground comics in Japan and abroad, CAT will feature a range of workshops and special presentations, including an onstage interview with Gekiga master Tadao Tsuge!

For this event, TCAF will have a full ‘Canadian Pavilion’, as we take over Temple University’s Azabu campus cafeteria! We’ll be showing Canadian comics videos all day, have three feature presentations (including Canadian Comics Readings, The History of Koyama Press, and An Nguyen talking about her collaborative work So Pretty, Very Rotten). Participating exhibitors at this event include: The Beguiling, Koyama Press, An Nguyen, Andrew Wheeler, Bryan Lee O’Malley & Jason Fischer, Emily Carroll, Freddy Carrasco, Hello Boyfriend, John Gehron, Kim Hoang, Maiji, Mike Parsons, Natalie Andrewson, Rupert Bottenberg, and Tim Kiefer.

Brave & Bold is a live-art and artist alley event and showcase, featuring a dynamic range of international artists centered around “AmeComi”, or American Superhero and Genre comics. A chance to meet artists and get commissioned work from them, mostly for Japanese fans, and a chance to see live drawing and more.

Tokyo Comic-Con is a large-format media-focused American-style Comic-Con, founded by Stan Lee, Steve Wozniak, and a bunch of other folks. TCAF is looking forward to promoting Canadian creators and their works, and ‘revealing’ which artists that already have work translated into Japanese are ‘secretly’ Canadian!

TCAF will be participating on all 3 days of the Festival, though some guests will not be available every day. Participating creators at this event include: Bryan Lee O’Malley (Fri & Sat Only), Jason Fischer, Tim Kiefer, Ramon Perez (Fri & Sat only), Marcuz To, Andrew Wheeler, Jim Zub & Steven Cummings. In addition, on Friday and Saturday we will be welcoming very special guests The National Cartoonists Society at the TCAF booth, represented by NCS President Steve McGarry and member Luke McGarry!

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Festival Staff

TCAF will be represented at these events by staff including Jocelyne Allen, Peter Birkemoe, David Brothers, Cassi Burrel, Christopher Butcher, Jarrett Samson, and Mimmy Shen. TCAF is also grateful for the assistance of Aki Yanagi in helping to manage our participation in these events!

Exhibiting Groups:

Celebrating its 30th Anniversary in 2017, The Beguiling is North America’s finest comic book specialty shop. Located in Toronto, Canada, The Beguiling carries the most diverse and eclectic array of comics imaginable, from art comix and indies to superheroes to BD to manga and more! The Beguiling also represents the original art sales of dozens of fantastic artists, check out beguilingbooksandart.com for everything!

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Founded in 2007, Koyama Press is a Toronto-based small press. Our mandate is to promote and support a wide range of emerging and established artists. Projects include comics, graphic novels, art books, and zines. We are known for our alternative edge and diverse range of titles that include a myriad of genres from autobiography to photography, from horror to humour, and more.

Exhibiting Authors:

Rupert Bottenberg is a Canadian visual artist with a drawing-based practice (illustration, graphic literature, and more); a writer and editor; a teacher; and an event coordinator. He is the the co-director of the En Masse collaborative art initiative, the former music editor of the Montreal Mirror, the director of Axis, the animation section of the Fantasia Film Festival, and founder of the Montreal Comic Art Jams. In 2012 he released his debut solo book of comix and artwork, Traumstadtdenken (Éditions Trip), which won the annual Bédélys Indépandant award. In 2017, Bottenberg released two books, Traumstadtdenken 2 (Éditions Trip) and Fourscore Phantasmagores (ChiGraphic). Rupert was born in 1971 in Kentville, Nova Scotia, and since the age of two has made Montreal, Quebec his home.

http://enmasse.info/artist/rupert-bottenberg/

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Freddy Carrasco is a Toronto based illustrator whose work is influenced by 90s anime and hastily drawn street art. In his own words, “Everything I do is sort of chasing the feeling I got when I first played Jet Set Radio. That game feels like it was made with zero corporate compromises. It’s 100% cool.” Coming off the heels of his debut book, Hot Summer Nights, Carrasco is back to work on a self-published collection of Sci-Fi short stories titled GLEEM.

Emily Carroll was born in London, Ontario, in June of 1983. She is the author of the critically acclaimed horror short story collection “Through The Woods,” and has illustrated the graphic novel “Baba Yaga’s Assistant” with writer Marika McCoola. In addition to the many short online comics found at her website, emcarroll.com, 2018 will see the release of “Speak: The Graphic Novel,” based on the novel of Laurie Halse Anderson. Emily currently lives with her wife Kate and their large orange cat in Stratford, Ontario.

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Jason Fischer is a cartoonist from Los Angeles who loves food, coffee, demons, statues, cats and stormy beaches. After working with Bryan Lee O’Malley as drawing assistant in Seconds, Jason has been working on his first graphic novel. He made an autobiographical comic called Seconds Helping about working with Bryan on Seconds, sharing his funny and stressful story of working non-stop to finish Seconds by deadline. Last year he produced two comic issues on a new project, Terra Flats. He also works as a color assistant on Zander Cannon’s Kaijumax and other projects.

Hello Boyfriend is a comics collective consisting of 5 friends that met at Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario, Canada. Together they make the series “Doki Doki High,” run a Comic Making Club, and push each other to do their best!

Kim Hoang is a member of Love Love Hill — a Canadian collective of comic artists independently self-publishing anthologies of comics, short stories, art zines, and minis, all lovingly bound in handmade volumes, thematically centered around the little whimsical charms in life! Love Love Hill’s latest releases in 2017 are “Super Life On The Hill” and “Expired Seafood: Tied Up.”

Maiji/Mary Huang is a happy little squirrel and also a Taiwanese-Canadian artist/writer based out of Toronto. Her comics, zines and poetry incorporate themes of mythology, introspection, everyday human experiences, and small fat animals. She is the creator of Now Recharging, a slice-of-life webcomic about a sheep-loving android who is bad at math and worried about nonexistence.

An Nguyen, under the pen name Saicoink, has been around since 1997 and makes illustrations, comics, books using binder clips & glue, collages. She also edits and designs books. She is the co-author with Jane Mai of “So Pretty / Very Rotten,” a collection of comics and essays about Lolita street fashion published by Koyama Press. She is also the author of “Open Spaces and Closed Places,” a comic series about dreamy-eyed boys in love.

Bryan Lee O’Malley is a Canadian cartoonist best known for the bestselling, award-winning Oni Press series “Scott Pilgrim” (2004-2010). “Scott Pilgrim” was adapted into a critically-acclaimed major motion picture (from Universal) and video game (from Ubisoft) in 2010. In 2014 he released the bestselling graphic novel “Seconds” and his most recent series, “Snotgirl,” is published monthly from Image Comics. O’Malley lives in Los Angeles, where he continues to make comics.

Mike Parsons is a Toronto based fine artist who uses black and white ink drawings, comic books, graffiti street art, and animations to express an optimistic warning towards future days.“HEY APATHY!” is an ongoing artistic investigation into the city, people, monsters and existence in general. Since 2001 the “HEY APATHY!” artworks have been featured in over 25 major exhibitions winning awards and honors from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, the Toronto Arts Council, and the Art Gallery of Ontario.

Ramón K Pérez is the multiple Eisner and Harvey Award winning cartoonist best known for his graphic novel adaptation of Jim Henson’s “Tale Of Sand,” and his most recent release is a modern day adaptation of the Bronte Sisters’ classic “Jane Eyre,” entitled “Jan.”. Ramón has also collaborated as illustrator on “All-New Hawkeye” and “The Amazing Spider-Man,” “NOVA,” and “Wolverine and The X-Men” for Marvel Comics, and the creator-owned series’ Butternutsquash and Kukuburi, among a long history of work. Ramón resides in Toronto, Canada.

Marcus To is a New York Times bestselling illustrator and storyteller who lives in Toronto, Canada. Throughout his career Marcus has drawn virtually every DC superhero, having worked on Red Robin, Huntress, Batwing, Flash, and Wonder Woman. His current work includes his creator owned book Joyride as well as one of the regular artists on Guardians of the Galaxy for Marvel comics He is a proud member of the RAID Studio.

Andrew Wheeler is a UK-born, Toronto-based writer of comics and other fictions. Author of the graphic novel “Another Castle: Grimoire” and the novel “Valentin and The Widow,” both released in 2017, Wheeler is currently turning his talents to the espionage thriller “Freelance,” co-written with Jim Zub. When not writing, Wheeler is Communications Director for Canadian Publisher Chapterhouse Publishing.

Jim Zub is a writer, artist and art instructor based in Toronto, Canada. Over the past fifteen years he’s worked for a diverse array of publishing, movie and video game clients including Marvel, DC Comics, Capcom, Hasbro, Cartoon Network, and Bandai-Namco. His current comic projects include Avengers: No Surrender, Uncanny Avengers, Dungeons & Dragons, and the creator-owned series’ Glitterbomb and Wayward. In addition to his freelance comic writing, Jim is the Program Coordinator for Seneca College‘s award-winning Animation program, where he also lectures on the History of Animation, Layout and Character Animation.

Founded in 1946, The National Cartoonists Society is a worldwide organization which represents more than 600 of world’s top cartoonists. www.reuben.org. The NCS will be exhibiting at Kaigai Manga Festa, Comic Art Tokyo, and as TCAF’s guests on the Friday and Saturday of Tokyo Comic-Con.

Steve McGarry is one of the most-prolific British Artists of all time! Over his 40 year career he has worked for numerous publications creating comics, illustrating, designing, and much more. He has designed albums for Joy Division, and was a storyboard artist for Minions and Despicable Me 2. He is the president of The National Cartoonists Society. He lives in Los Angeles, USA. http://stevemcgarry.com/

Luke McGarry is best known to online fans for his “Sad Chewie” series of illustrations! An artist, animator, and designer, Luke has worked with a range of top clients including Jack Black and Tenacious D, Myspace, Vans Shoes, IFC, the NHL, VISA, and much more besides! He has received the Silver T-Squre award from The National Cartoonists Society. He lives in Los Angeles, USA. http://lukemcgarry.com/